NO TALKIN LICHT.

A Telegraphstory by the wonderfully named Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent, discusses efforts to record the dialect of Cromarty in Scotland:

A rare dialect that is only spoken by two elderly brothers is to be recorded for posterity before it disappears.
Bobby Hogg, 87, and his brother Gordon, 80, are believed to be the last fluent speakers of the “Cromarty fisher dialect”…
It evolved when local fishermen in the town of Cromarty, on the Black Isle north of Inverness, picked up words from English soldiers based in the area in the 17th and 18th centuries…
A spokesman for Am Baile, a Highland internet archive, said it was important to capture a recording of the last two speakers.
Robin McColl Miller [sic: should be Millar] of Aberdeen University’s English department said the Cromarty fisher dialect was the most threatened in Scotland, and one of five different dialects once found in the same small area.

The story has a selection of dialect phrases (Thee’re no talkin’ licht ‘You are quite right’; Ut aboot a wee suppie for me ‘Can I have a drink too?’) and a link to an audio sample.
Thanks for the link, Paul!

Comments

The article left me a little confused. This is a dialect of English, right? So were the locals English speakers before the soldiers were stationed there, or is this dialect entirely based on the soldiers’ English?

Oh yeah, interesting example phrases too.
I like the way the translations are deliberately(?) made different enough to highlight the exotic nature of the dialect (for example, why not translate the second one “What about a wee sip for me?”), but a word-for-word gloss would be far more interesting. Especially in that third example.
Also, I notice that the first example has the word “licht”, presumably =’light’, but in the fourth example we have “light” =’light’. This may just be a result of the transcription.

So were the locals English speakers before the soldiers were stationed there, or is this dialect entirely based on the soldiers’ English?
I would assume the latter, but “entirely based” neglects the influence of the Gaelic they would have been speaking previously. Good question.

Yeah, I at first assumed that this was a dialect of Gaelic with English borrowings, given the wording in the article that they “picked up words from English soldiers”. But those examples are clearly English.

This article rejects the “English soldier” theory, and gives more details.
Cromarty, it seems, was the county town of the traditional county of Cromartyshire, itself interesting because it consists solely of a scattering of discontinuous parcels embedded in Ross-shire. (Scottish local administration, however, has not respected the distinction since 1889.)

Chambers Scots Dictionary (1977 reprint) has a discussion of the Scots of the fishing villages of the Black Isle, which resembles the Scots of Caithness, it says. It alludes to the influence of Gaelic and of two forms of Scandinavian. It “may afford ample scope for the highest scholarship”. Quick, lads. Where I grew up, on the Solway, our dialect was Southern Scots, but the fishermen had a discernibly different dialect of their own. But that was all fifty years ago, before the worst of the pernicious influence of the BBC from London and Glasgow.

Thanks for posting this. I wish I would have had a chance to talk to these fellows when I was there in 03. Interesting to see that the Wikipedia article only barely mentions the Sutors, which were reported to be giant cobblers who defended the harbour from pirates.
Incidentally, the novel you helped me with (the ancient Greek, if you recall, said section since removed by my editor) takes place partly in Cromarty.
D

And you can support my book habit without even spending money on me by following my Amazon links to do your shopping (if, of course, you like shopping on Amazon); I get a small percentage of every dollar spent while someone is following my referral links, and every month I get a gift certificate that allows me to buy a few books (or, if someone has bought a big-ticket item, even more). You will not only get your purchases, you will get my blessings and a karmic boost!

Favorite rave review, by Teju Cole:
"Evidence that the internet is not as idiotic as it often looks. This site is called Language Hat and it deals with many issues of a linguistic flavor. It's a beacon of attentiveness and crisp thinking, and an excellent substitute for the daily news."

From "commonbeauty"

(Cole's blog circa 2003)

All comments are copyright their original posters. Only messages signed "languagehat" are property of and attributable to languagehat.com. All other messages and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily state or reflect those of languagehat.com. Languagehat.com does not endorse any potential defamatory opinions of readers, and readers should post opinions regarding third parties at their own risk. Languagehat.com reserves the right to alter or delete any questionable material posted on this site.